About Us

The West Virginia Family Foundation (WVFF), state affiliate of the American Family Association, worked to secure passage of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was signed into law by the late Governor Cecil Underwood on April 4, 2000.

It was believed, at the time, passage of this state law defining marriage as only between “one man and one woman” would suffice to protect and insulate this sacred institution from homosexual activists. Much has changed since then across our nation and our state, and we realized that the only way to take the redefining of marriage away from the courts and empower West Virginia families to decide is with a constitutional amendment.

The Marriage Protection Amendment campaign officially began in January 2006 under the auspices of the West Virginia Family Foundation. The amendment would allow West Virginia voters to define marriage as only between “one man and one woman”. In a short period of time, WVFF collected over 40,000 signatures and petitions from over 300 churches in West Virginia supporting the Marriage Protection Amendment. This remarkable and historic response clearly shouted, “Let the People Vote!”

On January 30, 2006, WVFF introduced (HJR-106) in the House of Delegates, and its companion bill (SJR-12) in the WV Senate on February 17, 2006. HJR-106 was referred to House Constitutional Revision Committee on January 30, 2006, and died at the end of the legislative session due to the refusal of Chairwoman Barbara Evans Fleischauer (D-Monongalia) to take up the bill in her committee. SJR-12 was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 17, 2006, and also died in committee due to the refusal of Judiciary Chairman Jeffrey V. Kessler (D-Marshall) to take up the bill for consideration.

Since 2006, we continue to lead in the introduction of the Marriage Protection Amendment, but unfortunately, the results remain the same for West Virginians. Why? Simply put, the majority party members elected to represent the interest of their constituency, continue to refuse a full floor vote. By their own actions they are denying all citizens of West Virginia the right to secure and decide on defining marriage as only between “one man and one woman”.

Since 2006, we continue to lead in the introduction of the Marriage Protection Amendment, but unfortunately, the results remain the same for West Virginians. Why? Simply put, the majority party members elected to represent the interest of their constituency, continue to refuse a full floor vote. By their own actions they are denying all citizens of West Virginia the right to secure and decide on defining marriage as only between “one man and one woman”.

ProtectWVMarriage.com and WVFF believe in the people’s right to vote on marriage and to hold lawmakers accountable who stand in the way by refusing to allow the people to vote.

Thirty other states have already voted on and secured the definition of marriage as being only between “one man and one woman” and we believe the citizens of West Virginia deserve the same right. The fundamental question is this, “Who should decide on the definition of marriage in West Virginia…the courts or the people”?

ProtectWVMarriage.com and WVFF is fighting to let voters decide whether to grant same sex couples the right to marry, not an activist state or national supreme court. There are many ways to get involved and to make passage of the Marriage Protection Amendment a reality. One way to help is to register to receive emails from WV Family Foundation on our Home page.

Join Us in this Fight Today!

Email or Call Today!

Call (1-877-565-3447) your legislators or email them today. Tell them to fight against WVFF's present counterfeit same sex marriage laws. Ask them to return WV marriage law to its prior DOMA status, One Man One Woman, No Counterfeits.
WV Senate & House bills will be introduced to do just this in 2016.
Find your WV legislators' contact info here >>> http://www.legis.state.wv.us